15.-18.08. - Puerto Lopez, Ecuador

On 08/15 we traveled on to Puerto López. The city is on the coast of Ecuador and thus in the "dangerous part" of the country. A few months ago the mayor of the next largest city was killed here (by a drug cartel) and while we were there two cartels were also arguing and one person lost his life. Normally, however, as a tourist you are kept out of everything and the danger is rather low. We actually wanted to work again in Puerto López, but that didn't work out because our hosts (French...) were kind of weird and canceled us shortly beforehand. That annoyed us quite a bit because the work would have been in a diving school and we would have had two free dives a week. The bus ride to Puerto López took about 12 hours in total, we had to change trains in Guayaquil. The first bus (a night bus, we left around 01:15 am) was full, I couldn't sleep, it was noisy and the temperature on the bus went from 21°C when we left to over 30°C when we arrived. Super cool. Arrived in Guayaquil, we had found relatively modest accommodation. The accommodation itself was OK, a bit unclean, a bit many mosquitoes, but otherwise good. The lady of the house was quite rude, barely managed to say hello and didn't show us anything in the accommodation. Anyway. Whale watching was on the agenda for the next day. On the coast of Ecuador, the humpback whales are in season and are breeding and giving birth. We booked a tour that included whale watching and snorkeling. We saw a lot of whales and their calves, the tour was pretty cool. The snorkeling was… well. The gear was decent... 'used' and of course never cleaned. There wasn't much to see in the area other than a few small fish. You don't really have to have it.

The next day we went for a hike through the rainforest. The tour can be booked on site in Puerto López and costs $45. The tour takes place approximately 30 minutes drive from Puerto López. I got a phone number from a local and we got the tour for $28. Unfortunately we didn't see or hear much. A few howler monkeys (seen and heard), toucans (heard only) and lots of crayfish (seen). Otherwise there wasn't much besides the usual (cows, horses, donkeys). Then we had lunch with the guide's mother/grandma, typically Ecuadorian. All in all a very nice tour.

The next day we went diving on the Isla de la Plata. The Isla de la Plata is about a 110 minute boat ride from Puerto López and is known as “Little Galápagos”. We had a small boat and a lot of waves, which was just right for people who were prone to seasickness. On the way there, three people felt bad (but nobody threw up), and then they vomited on the way home. But luckily it didn't hit us. The two dives were great, although the visibility (probably because of the weather) was not ideal. We saw manta rays (they are really huge!), eagle rays, stingrays, sea turtles (awesome!), lots of fish and other odds and ends. Immediately after we were back on the boat from the first dive, a huge humpback whale appeared about 10-15 m from the boat... It's a shame that we weren't in the water anymore. The first dive was generally somewhat problematic. Although almost everyone on the boat was “Advanced Open Water Divers” (i.e. already had two diving certifications), two people ran out of air and then had to breathe with others. The dive planning definitely left a lot to be desired... But this is South America too. Everything was fine with Caro and me.